Southern Company awarded $26.5B loan by Energy Department

(The Center Square) – Development of electricity infrastructure by the Southern Company in Georgia and Alabama capable of generating up to 16 gigawatts of power will be funded through a $26.5 billion loan under Office of Energy Dominance Financing, said Energy Secretary Chris Wright. The loan will support development of new power generation and grid upgrades as the Atlanta-based company works to meet escalating demand for electricity from scores of energy-hungry data centers in Georgia along with industrial customers in Alabama. Funded under second-term Republican President Donald Trump’s Working Families Tax Cut, the loan represents the largest investment made by the federal government aimed directly at lowering consumer electricity costs and increasing grid reliability, according to the Energy Department. Over the approximately 30-year term of the loan, customers of Southern Company subsidiaries Georgia Power and Alabama Power will save approximately $7 billion, according to the depa